The main takeaway from ATTOM Data Solutions’ newly released Q1 2020 U.S. Home Flipping Report is the home flipping rate nationwide increased to a 14-year high in the first quarter of 2020, while returns slumped to a nine-year low.

ATTOM’s most recent home flipping analysis reported that 53,705 single-family homes and condos in the U.S. were flipped in Q1 2020, representing 7.5 percent of all home sales during the quarter, reaching the highest level since Q2 2006.

According to ATTOM’s Q1 2020 home flipping report, the gross profit on the typical home flip nationwide also increased in the first quarter of 2020, to $62,300, up slightly from $62,000 in Q4 2019 and from $60,675 in Q1 2019. But with home prices rising, that profit translated into only a 36.7 percent return on investment compared to the original acquisition price. The report stated this latest profit margin sits at the lowest level for home flipping since the Q3 2011.

The report noted this pattern of investors unable to fully keep pace with soaring home prices revealed a soft spot in the nation’s nine-year market boom, just as the major impact of the worldwide Coronavirus began damaging the U.S. economy. While it remains unclear how hard the housing market will get hit by the pandemic fallout, a drop in prices could further erode investor profits and cloud the future of the home-flipping industry.